Santa Cruz couple fight off early-morning invaders Wednesday

SANTA CRUZ -- A Santa Cruz couple fought off two men who came into their home early Wednesday morning, threatened them with a sword and demanded money.

Santa Cruz police officers arrested one of the men but the other remains at large, Deputy Chief Steve Clark said. Cuactemoc Xilonzochilt-Zamora, 28, of Santa Cruz was arrested on suspicion of robbery, false imprisonment, burglary, assault with a deadly weapon and possession of methamphetamine. Clark said Xilonzochilt-Zamora has a history of arrests for burglary and drug offenses.

The couple and their two daughters were asleep in their Poplar Avenue home around 4:30 a.m. when their bedroom lights came on and they woke to see two men standing over them. The men were each wearing a scarf or bandanna over their face, which they had taken from the home.

One of the men was holding a decorative sword that was in the home, the other had a screwdriver, said Yarry Gonzalez .

"They seemed surprised to see us," he said as he recounted the experience late Wednesday morning.

Both were short-haired Latino men, one thin with narrow features and the other, larger and on the chubby side, Gonzalez said. They were dressed in baggy clothes puffy jackets and beanies, and were wearing disposable plastic gloves. The two men, who appeared to be drunk and were "completely incompetent," began demanding money, Gonzalez said. He gave them none.

He was ordered out of bed and onto the floor on his hands and knees, at which point the smaller man held the sword to Gonzalez's neck and tried to bind his hands with duct tape. After a few unsuccessful attempts the man swore and then pulled an iPad charging cord from an outlet and tried to use that to bind Gonzalez. Again, Gonzalez said, he couldn't manage to do so.

Gonzalez said the men seemed like hapless criminals who didn't really know what they were doing, which kept him from being terrified to fight back.

At that point, Gonzalez's wife, who was still on the bed, threw a heating pad at the larger man's head, which distracted both assailants. That gave Gonzalez an opportunity to spring up from the floor and start fighting back. He was able to grab the sword from him, but the other man managed to scratch his wife with the screwdriver.

Gonzalez started yelling and the smaller man fled, shoving the couple's 11-year-old daughter -- who awoke to the commotion and came out to see what was happening -- as he ran out the door.

The larger man followed with Gonzalez chasing after him in bare feet and pajamas. He was able to tackle one of the men in the front yard and he yelled for his daughter to call 911. Gonzalez kept Xilonzochilt-Zamora on the ground until police arrived.

Another daughter, who was sleeping, was not harmed.

Gonzalez' wife suffered only minor injuries and did not require medical attention.

The second man, described as a Latino male about 25- to 30-years-old, 160 pounds and ranging in height from 5 feet, 6 inches to 5 feet, 9 inches. He made off with several items, including a MacBook Pro laptop and an Xbox video game console.

When asked if the invasion could be linked to the armed robbery of a Mission Street grocery store last week or the shooting of a UC Santa Cruz student during a robbery, Clark said there was no conclusive evidence.